A Study On The Development Of Public Consumption In China

Public consumption plays an important role in improving household's living quality and constructing a harmonious society. It is of great significance to thoroughly sort out the problems concerning public consumption in our country.This thesis attempts a systematic analysis of the connotation of public consumption against the socialist market economy context, discusses the underlying laws governing the development of public consumption. Moreover, it traces the evolution of China's public consumption to analyze the problems existing in this respect, and consequently, puts forward the direction and goals of reform in this regard, which may serve as suggestions for policy-makers.The introduction briefs the background and significance of the research on the public consumption in our country, sets forth the research framework and guiding methods for the thesis and points out the innovations of the whole thesis.The second part focuses on the analysis of the connotation of public consumption. This section, starting with a literature review on public goods, comments on the various schools of thoughts, and points out the limits of current main stream economics with regard to the concept of public goods. It holds that public goods originates from public needs, only those satisfy public needs can be considered as public goods, meanwhile, they are of non rivalness and non exclusion in terms of consumption, yet non-exclusion carries the tone of social, technological, and ethical. Public consumption refers to the public goods and services that satisfy household's needs in public consumption. This part also makes a classification of public consumption items.The third part discusses the underlying laws governing the development of public consumption. Approaching from social needs and individual needs, it justifies the existence of public consumption, analyzes the possible factors that influence the level and the trend as public consumption develops.The fourth part pinpoints the problems of public consumption in our country. This part charts the evolution of public consumption under the planned economy (since the founding of People's Republic of China to the late 1970s, the time shortly before the Reform) and the reform of public consumption in the 1980s and the 1990s, followed by the analysis of the input inadequacy in public consumption, structural imbalance between needs and supply. The part ends with a discussion of the underlying economic and social factors responsible for the aforesaid problems. The fifth part indicates the direction of public consumption reform. It sets the value targets and goals of public consumption reform, puts forward such concept as public consumption rights, social justice targets of public consumption and core principle of general preference principle.The sixth part presents the suggestions to improve public consumption in our country.The innovations of the thesis are as following:1. The innovation of research perspective. From the perspective of economic ethics, philosophy and consumption economy, the thesis elaborates the connotation, goal and development principles concerning public consumption, justifying the important role of public consumption in the socialist market economy,2. The innovation of core concept. For one thing, this thesis presents a thorough discussion of public consumption, drawing the analysis of public goods made both by Marx and by western economics to make up for the lack of theoretical foundation. For another thing, it puts forward the concept of public consumption rights, which means the right to enjoy the public consumption.3. The innovation of content. This thesis elaborates the significance of public consumption from a social economic perspective, puts forward the development targets and principles of public consumption. Apart from these, the thesis reviews the evolution of public consumption in our country and thoroughly analyzes the problems in the field of public consumption and the underlying causes.